Fate of private New Mexico prison unclear as ICE detention ramps up

Local officials said Thursday they don’t know what will happen to a private prison in southeast New Mexico set to close this summer, but the company running it has expressed interest to the federal government in converting it into an immigration detention center.

The Lea County Correctional Facility in Hobbs is owned and operated by private prison company GEO Group, which holds people convicted under state law and in New Mexico Corrections Department custody.

In January, GEO Group officials told the Lea County Commission they don’t intend to extend the company’s agreement beyond Nov. 24, 2025, according to a letter read by County Attorney John Caldwell during the Lea County Commission’s regular meeting on Thursday. 

GEO Group and the state have been “unable to reach a decision” in negotiations, Caldwell said, after the company on April 21 offered to sell it to the Corrections Department for $175 million. GEO Group had previously offered to sell the prison to the county and the state government for $240 million, he said.

GEO Group on May 1 informed its 203 workers, the county, the state Department of Workforce Solutions and Hobbs Mayor Sam Cobb that it would stop operating the prison on June 30, Caldwell said.

Then last week, the New Mexico Corrections Department told the county it would stop sending incarcerated people to the prison and would transfer everyone currently held there to other prisons by June 30, he said.

As to whether anyone else has expressed interest in taking over the prison, Caldwell said that in his discussions with GEO, “I know that they have spoken with the federal government, but nothing specific.”

GEO Group mentioned the Lea County Correctional Facility in response to an ICE request for information last September as one that “might be available for ICE use.” The American Civil Liberties Union obtained the document via a Freedom of Information Act request.

ACLU filed the FOIA request in August 2024 and a month later sued to force ICE to hand over the records. ICE in April released the document mentioning the Lea County prison — along with other records showing CoreCivic’s interest in renewing the migrant detention contract for the Torrance County Detention Facility in Estancia.

“The documents received provide important details regarding what we have long feared – a massive expansion of ICE detention facilities nationwide in an effort to further the Trump administration’s dystopian plans to deport our immigrant neighbors and loved ones,” ACLU National Prison Project Senior Staff Attorney Eunice Cho said in a statement. “This expansion is a disastrous waste of billions of taxpayer dollars that will only line the coffers of the private prison industry.”

The Trump administration is rapidly expanding immigration detention through billion-dollar contracts with private prison companies, including GEO Group and CoreCivic, Stateline reports.

Source NM has asked spokespeople for ICE and GEO Group whether the agency intends to detain people at the prison in Hobbs and will update this story if a response is received.